A five-part series in which presenter Christopher Cook and historian Helen Weinstein bring to life the diary of John Cannon, an extraordinary memoir of an ordinary 18th-century taxman.

In 1721 John Cannon is sacked from his prestigious job as a taxman, after his baby son has just died. He is then arrested for debt, at which point he says this is the "lowest ebb of adversity". But he and his wife soon bounce back, with the help of a new bread oven.